my challenge about the #100ItalyFacts was completed almost one month ago and after that, I worked on making a collection of said “facts” that I linked here. The lovely Manja kindly reminded me that I shared it on social media, but I didn’t write a blog post about it, so here you are the announcement.

In the meantime I have also completed another “Instagram campaign”: “Prealpine Contradas“. As I mentioned to the people who follow me there, the contradas at the foothills of the Venetian Prealps are small rural villages surrounded by woods and where people entertain a slow-paced kind of existence. I guess you can say it’s a good example of the typical Italian way of living 😉 I plan on writing about these fascinating realities also in here, keep following the blog if you’re interested.

As for now, here you are the last ten days of the #100ItalyFacts. Enjoy!

During this last week I have decided to publish a poll on twitter about Venice.

Browsing the Internet, I have noticed how many tourists were kind of disappointed in The Serenissima: many claimed that it’s too expensive, others said it’s way too surreal and it doesn’t allow you to experience “the Italian way of life”.

So when I looked at the results and the comments, it didn’t surprise me the fact that the majority of people said it’s a tourist trap.

Sensing the general impression, some time ago I published the first post of (I hope) a prolific series about Venice and how to look at it with different eyes.My desire is to encourage people to see the true experience behind the polished facade of Saint Mark’s square and the Rialto Bridge. This is also why this week I published two posts about Venice for the #100ItalyFacts challenge 😉

If you want, let’s discuss in the comments about your experience in Venice and your general impression about it. Let me also know if you are interested in reading the series I was mentioning before or if you are truly done with this city XD

Italy is often depicted as an ambiguous country and Vicenza is obviously no different. As we often say in here, “it has multiple lives as the cats” and polar opposite characteristics coexist without too much of a hassle.With this series of posts about Vicenza, I will try to underline the city’s “split personality”, by identifying the major paradoxes you can find in its layered territory.

I hope you enjoyed these last festivities! I surely did with tons of food and with the company of friends and family 😉 I even visited my friends in South Tyrol and we played the tourists for few days, so it was all really great!

During these last days, I have written about Epiphany, the last festive day of the “Christmas period”, and about Carnival, the period of the year in which all the social rules are supposed to be reversed!

I hope you enjoy, see you this week with the first entry about Vicenza 😘

The usual Sunday review was postponed on Monday, as yesterday was Christmas and it can be a very demanding day for Italians 😂 I’m still trying to digest all the food I ate, it might take a bit to fully recover 😂😂

I hope you had a nice and relaxing Christmas day and I wish you all HAPPY HOLIDAYS!❤

We spend our lives travelling and daydreaming about spectacular journeys around the globe. We take pictures and silly selfies in front of the Seven Wonders of the World. We despise inactivity and we are eager to discover new ways of life.

Then suddenly something happens.

Specific cultures may resonate with us more than others, but the ultimate discovery is that, after a first period in which we see all through rose-tinted glasses, we start to consider countries and places for what they truly are. Misleading. Fallacious. Human.

Travel changes our perspective and outlook on life. It makes us wiser, happier and even healthier. New countries and cultures let us discover parts of ourselves we didn’t even know and open our minds to new things. But at a certain point, travelling makes us reconsider our own countries.

At first we tend to see only the things our countries fail to do, but, little by little, their values also appear. Qualities we have always taken for granted.

We must be aware of our origins, in life and when travelling.

A traveller without roots is like a kite without a rope connecting it to the ground and that roams around the skies without a guidance or a direction.

Let’s discover our origins and our culture in order to take off and have a steady flight around the globe.

Stick around and check out the next blog posts to learn more about my roots and discover the beautiful Vicenza.